19th July, LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (IVN.T) Monday said it has appointed three additional financial institutions to help arrange financing for its Oyu Tolgoi project, one of the world's largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits.

Canada-headquartered Ivanhoe has appointed Paris-based BNP Paribas (BNPQY), London-based Standard Chartered (STAN.LN) and Export Development Canada to its core lending group of five financial institutions that will lead the arrangement of project financing for the Oyu Tolgoi project in which Ivanhoe owns a 66% interest.

The core group of five financial institutions, which includes the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD, and the International Finance Corporation, or IFC, are expected to arrange a financing package for the project valued at more than $2 billion by the first quarter of 2011, Robert Friedland, the executive chairman of Ivanhoe said in a statement.

He noted that there was a "high level of interest in international financial circles," in participating in the project. Ivanhoe selected two banks out of a total of 13 banks which expressed interest in the project.

Oyu Tolgoi is expected to enter production in 2013 and then ramp up over five year to 450,000 metric tons of copper output annually. Ivanhoe estimates the initial investment required for the open-pit mine in the Southern Oyu deposit to start producing would be $4.6 billion.